186 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



anything good about him. He knows very well that 

 there was never any firm of C & D Bros, in the bee 

 business, nor any <>th -r business except the harness 

 business, and in that C was not interested. In an- 

 swer to you, "Could [ not return the good-? unpack- 

 ed?" I will say, no; I owe him nothing-; yet had he 

 sent me C's account, before he ordered you to pub- 

 lish him as a humbug- 1 would certainly have paid it; 

 and I will say to you that I will yet when he acknowl- 

 edg-es that he has been lying- in regard to this matter. 

 I will say farther that, if he has any demands 

 against me, T am perfectly responsible. Should you 

 conclude to publish me as a humbug and swindler, 

 there is no way by which I can prevent you, that I 

 know of. You will please pard >n the b id language 

 I have been compelled to use; I was taught to call 

 things by their right names. D. 



Stop ! Stop ! my friends. In the name of 

 the Savior who died for such poor, mistaken 

 human beintrs as you and I, I call upon you 

 to stop using such harsh and uncharitable 

 words to each other. You are neither of 

 you liars, and have no reason in the world 

 for calling each other such names. You are 

 only mistaken, and, in the heat of anger, are 

 seeing each other's faults and failings, with 

 such eyes as Satan always gives us, when 

 we, by some of the vicissitudes of life or 

 business, get ''out 1 ' with each other, to use 

 a common expression. You have been 

 friends in business, and there is no earthly 

 reason why you should not be friends still, 

 and go along as if this had never happened. 

 You are both of you "crazy," for the time 

 being, exactly as I told you, a little while 

 ago, that I got crazy. I do not know wheth- 

 er either of you believe in God and the Bi- 

 ble or not; but. if you do, I call upon you, 

 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to 

 throw down your arms of warfare, and be 

 friends. If you are not believers, for the 

 sake of the example before your fellow men, 

 especially the boys and the younger ones, 

 who carefully read these pages, I entreat 

 you to forgive and forget this whole un- 

 pleasantness. Listen, and be guided just a 

 little by one who takes an outside view of it 

 all, and who has no prejudice either way. 

 Do not, I beg of you, lead me to feel it is all 

 in vain that we strive to make peace among 

 our fellow men. You are men grown, I 

 know ; and I know, too, how hard it is to 

 let go and give up, but, if you saw me in a 

 quarrel. I am sure that either one of you 

 would try to make peace if you could. I 

 could, if it were well, take up every point 

 you both have mentioned, and show, I think, 

 that it is all a misunderstanding, and an un- 

 fortunate mistake. Friend D admits the 

 money should have been paid, and he has so 

 far confessed that you, friend E, have cause 

 of complaint. Now, friend D, as friend E 

 has not told any willful falsehood, please be 

 generous enough to strike out your condi- 

 tion, and pay him that money. You have 

 his goods in your hands ; you say you un- 

 packed a part of them, the day before you 

 wrote. You surely do not want any man's 

 goods without paying for them? If I am 

 any judge of human nature, you are, among 

 your friends, considered a gentleman, and 

 wish to be fair and just before all. Come! 

 my friends, rise up, shake hands, and be 



men, and let this all drop. In the name of 

 Him who taught us to forgive our debtors 

 as we hope to be forgiven, I plead with you. 

 I will go bail for the money, and if friend D 

 does not pay it before the first of May, I will 

 pay it for him, and trust God to make me 

 whole in the transaction. 



The following illustrates vividly how one 

 may be led to uncharitableness, through 

 misapprehension or mistake : 



Friend Root: — I see by the Jan. number of your 

 paper that you have given me a back-h inded thrust. 

 Your first statement, that I ridiculed the Bible and 

 your faith in it, is false, and you knew it when you 

 penned it. In regard to the drone business, my let- 

 ter has been before you over one year. Would it 

 not look better for you to answer the arguments 

 therein contained, before resorting to misrepresent- 

 ation and ridicule? But a man generally makes use 

 of that he has the most of. In looking over your 

 letters, I do not find either Quinby's or Langstroth's 

 name mentioned, or any other author. If one has a 

 desire to write a bee-book, it is very easy to copy 

 from others' writings, and palm them off as his 

 own. Well, may I return the compliment? " What 

 do you think of such a man, my friends?" Now, 

 friend Iioot, please show that a female can produce a 

 living being without first having connection with a 

 male, and I will stand your ridicule without a word. 

 Of course, after the foregoing you will not expect 

 me to take your word. 



It is amusing to see you turn and twist to avoid 

 the conclusions that one must come to on reading 

 W. O.'s letter. He put your theory faithfully to the 

 test, and found it false. Taking both of your state- 

 ments, one would judge that he is the better Chris- 

 tian. Mr. Young puts the subject before you in its 

 true light, and you admit that you can not answer 

 his " principal arguments." It would seem then (to 

 use a slang phrase) you ought to " dry up." In re- 

 gard to my last letter, you ask, " Have you not got 

 it a little wrong side out, friend W.?" Not in the 

 least, sir, if your statements are right side out. You 

 assert that God answers prayers. There have been 

 tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes which have de- 

 stroyed thousands upon thousands, and sometimes 

 whole cities, and yet you think it a "small matter." 

 But I think otherwise; and in order to test your 

 sincerity in your own statements, that God answers 

 your prayers, I requested you to pray that God 

 would not send any more such public calamities to 

 destroy or kill his own children; and I see that you 

 dare not risk your reputation in that direction. 

 Your statement, that God permits them, therefore 

 " it must be right and best," would prove every evil 

 in the world "right and best," sin included. 



You seem to intimate that God is not the author 

 of tornadoes, etc., but permits them. I can not see 

 how that alters the case, unless he can not prevent 

 them. Please state which way you think it is. Your 

 paper is like an appropriation bill in Congress. A 

 member has a personal bill that he can not get 

 passed, and by some means gets it attached to the 

 appropriation bill, and Congress has to swallow the 

 obnoxious thing or reject the whole bill. Over sixty 

 years of observation has demonstrated that a man 

 who brags about his religion is a hypocrite. I have 

 no faith in your pravers. and if you had, you would 

 not quibble around so. 



As you have held me up to ridicule and scorn in 

 your paper, I claim the right to have this published 



